This application claims priority to PRC (China) Application No 200720194819.1, filed Oct. 25, 2007.
The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector for transmitting high speed differential signals.
The conventional electrical connector for transmitting high speed differential signals has broad applications in the communications field, and some of these applications are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,090,540 and 7,077,668. FIGS. 1 and 2, which are drawings from U.S. Pat. No. 7,077,668, provide an electrical connector 6 comprising an insulating body 60, a plurality of terminals 61 contained in the insulating body 60, and a cover 62 shielding the insulating body 60. The insulating body 60 has a connection portion 600 and a plurality of terminal containing slots respectively containing the terminals 61 and passing through the connection portion 600. The terminals 61 comprise signal terminals, ground terminals and other terminals with different uses. The terminals labeled as a, c, d, f, g, i, j and l are signal terminals, and two of these terminals are used as a pair to transmit differential signals. The terminals labeled as b, e, h and k are ground terminals, and the remaining terminals m-s may have different uses. Each of the terminals 61 comprises a contact portion 610 for a connection use, a foot portion 611 connected to a circuit board 7, such as for example by soldering, and a connection portion (not shown) connecting the contact portion 610 with the foot portion 611. The contact portions 610 of the terminals 61 located in the connection portion 600 comply with the standard of High Definition Multimedia Interface (“HDMI”), and are arranged in two rows as viewed from the front of the connector in FIG. 1. By contrast, the foot portions 611 of the terminals 61, as shown in FIG. 2, are arranged in three lines, or rows, that are respectively identified by corresponding pad groups 70, 71 and 72 on the circuit board 7, each of which is aligned with a foot portion line. The pads 70 comprise the pad group that is most adjacent to the center of the connection portion 600, and can connect a corresponding set of terminals to the ground. The other two pad groups 71 and 72 are aligned with two terminals of each differential signal terminal pair. One of the leads 73 connected to the middle pad group 71 goes through two adjacent pads 72 of the different group. Therefore, the distance between the two terminals of each differential signal terminal pair is not sufficient to reduce interference from occurring between the pair of differential signals applied to the differential signal terminal pair.
Such a conventional electrical connector 6 provides an equal distance between the foot portions 611 of the two terminals 61 of each differential signal terminal pair, but the three lines of pads 70, 71 and 72 occupy more area on the circuit board 7. Consequentially, such conventional technology is not suitable to be adapted to current electrical products that follow the current miniaturization trend.
The present invention provides an electrical connector which overcomes the problems presented in the prior art and which provides additional advantages over the prior art, such advantages will become clear upon a reading of the attached specification in combination with a study of the drawings.